Good Hope Through Grace
Dearly beloved of God, God has given the Church good hope through grace.
Romans 8:24 and 25
For we were saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
I Corinthians 15, and I Thessalonians 4 describe that for which we hope: we hope for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to raise the dead in Christ, and to change those who are yet living, and together they will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.
What occurs in the state of death, and the understanding of resurrection life are subjects beyond our human ability to comprehend without revelation knowledge from God.
Dearly beloved, every scripture in God’s Word attests that the dead are dead, not alive. Whether a sinner or a saint, the dead are dead.
The Old Testament believers are dead, and the New Testament believers are dead, and will remain as such until God sends His Son to raise them to life, give them glorious bodies like his glorious body, and eternal life.
Eternal life hinges on the Lord Jesus Christ, and the power God has given him to raise the dead to life. He will utilize this power and authority at his coming according to the Word of God.
Hebrews 11:13
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
While believing, these all died, not having received the promises.
All who ever died are still dead, and are corrupting in the grave according to the scriptures.
Enoch is dead. Abraham is dead. David is dead. Jonah is dead. Elijah is dead. Moses is dead. Peter is dead. Paul is dead. Death is still an enemy, and it is the last enemy that will be destroyed. Who is in heaven today?
John 3:13
And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but He That came down from heaven, even the Son of man Which is in heaven.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the only one alive from the dead, and in heaven; all others are awaiting his return to raise them to life again.
God made Jesus both Lord and Christ; He made him Lord of the dead and the living.
God gave him the power to raise the dead, and he will when he returns. The Lord Jesus Christ will raise the dead in Christ, and change the living ones when he gathers the Church together up unto him in the air.
Later, when he comes to the earth in the Lord’s Day he will raise those who will be killed during the great tribulation, and he will raise all the others, and separate out the just from the unjust at the judgment of the great white throne. The just will be made alive, and the unjust will die the second death and be destroyed.
I Corinthians 15:22 and 23
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the only one with the power and authority to release people from death, and it will only take place at his coming. Until then, dearly beloved, we have good hope through grace. In Christ we have a glorious hope.
We do not have a fictious hope based on myths, philosophy, or man-made doctrine, we have a true hope based on Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead. As he was raised from the dead, so we will be raised, or changed when he comes. What we hope for today is a certain future reality.
We are children of God, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. Since we suffer together today, we will be glorified together, also. The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the far more exceeding heavy weight of eternal glory that will be revealed to us!
Rejoice forevermore, and comfort one another with God’s Word concerning our hope, dearly beloved.